An energy revolution is on the horizon, in which both utilities and consumers will produce and sell electricity. Blockchain technology is already being tested in a number of different places. For example in New York State it is being tested as a way of selling solar energy between neighbours and in Germany one power company is running a pilot to see if blockchain technology can authenticate and manage the billing process for autonomous electric-vehicle charging stations.

The Utilities Sector, made up of electric, gas and water firms, and the energy sector alone accounts for approximately 5% of GDP. The organisations surveyed in the UK Cloud Snapshot Survey were predominantly energy companies. The survey aimed to determine what the current use of the cloud is within this industry and what individuals from this sector view as the greatest challenges to their IT plans over the next few years.

The rate of cloud adoption has increased rapidly, with more and more computing being pushed into the cloud, a trend identified in Serviceteam IT’s Cloud Snapshot Survey 2017. This growth in cloud computing has led to the development of networks of large data centres. However, this is already starting to slow, with an ever-increasing amount of computing moving back to the ‘edge’ of local networks. Processing will always occur wherever it is best placed for a given application at a given time and cloud has given us flexibility of computing resources; but we can’t help but think that reliable, elastic and on-demand networking is imperative to deliver the future.

In 2016, the finance and insurance sector contributed £124.2 billion to the UK economy in gross value added. This sector therefore makes up a significant proportion of the UK economy, and it for this reason this sector was included in the survey. The survey aimed to determine what the current use of the cloud is within this industry and additionally what individuals from this sector view as the greatest challenges to their IT plans over the next few years.

Sir Arthur C. Clarke said that: “any sufficiently advanced technology is equivalent to magic”. Well, I thought that transferring money from a country to another without paying any fees could only happen in a magical world, but since I have started travelling around the world of technology on my journey with Serviceteam IT, I would totally agree with Arthur.

Cloud may already be the heart of many companies’ infrastructure but it would be nothing without the veins of connectivity that keep the data flowing. The survey asked if respondents were considering moving additional applications and services to the cloud and what connectivity companies use to access their cloud solutions. This was split out from their normal office connectivity unless they relied upon an open public cloud connection.

Cloud may be the heart of many companies’ infrastructure but it would be nothing without the veins of connectivity that keep the data flowing. The UK Cloud Snapshot Survey 2017 asked what cloud connection companies use to access their cloud solutions. This was split out from their normal office connectivity unless they relied on an open public cloud connection.

There are an increasing number of applications being adopted by businesses that are born in the cloud. The research undertaken by Serviceteam IT looked at why companies had adopted Cloud. Across the industry, vendors tend to lead with the message of flexibility and cost savings. Flexibility and scalability of IT resources certainly are considered the largest driving factors to cloud adoption within the survey base.

Cloud Platforms & Applications: Most UK companies are working with a hybrid cloud approach and with multiple vendors, in combination with in house data centres for their cloud platform. Adoption of cloud is now varied and widespread, as the research from the UK Cloud Snapshot Survey 2017 demonstrates. The survey asked what platforms were being used for delivery of cloud based solutions.

Cloud has become the buzzword in not only the technology sector, but across all industries. At the same time, the uncertainty regarding cloud adoption is also increasing due to the multitude of problems currently facing the UK. Such challenges include the implementation of GDPR, the uncertainty of Brexit and the unprecedented increase in cyber security attacks.